Asia on a tandem

Nice front rack ;)

Amazing stuff.

2x sets of couplers ! a tandem that "Will" fit anywhere :)
excellent work.
Framebags next :)

Wow, that's a great looking bike. Looking forward to seeing where it takes you!

Awesome! Looks like fantastic fun.

stylin'

Hot daaamn!

That looks awesome. Have the best time!

Right, we now had the chance to ride it and I took some more pics. We chose a bit of road in the redwoods for the shakedown ride, and it was gorgeous. Mighty, beautiful trees.

First impression is that the bike is amazing. Coming from a 26in tandem I was a bit worried that a 29er would be too tall or unwieldy, but the people at Co-Motion know their stuff. When we went to the factory to pick it up we had a chat with the welder (Bob, lovely guy) and he said 'oh, you guys will be smoooooth on your Java'. And so it is.

Low speed manoeuvrability is excellent, which I find super important on a loaded tandem. It's very docile, predictable and stable. Perfect. We'll still have to dial the fit a bit more, but I'm using plenty of spacers + riser stem to get the handlebar where I want it. A custom geometry would get rid of the spacers but add costs and waiting time, so whatever.

Now we take it out for a few more rides here in the US, then fly out to Japan to start our trip. The idea was to ride the Pacific Coast, but we had a few work commitments that ruined our schedule. We don't want to delay our arrival in Japan, so we're just squeezing this American leg (got to love the couplers already, we can put the bike together in 10 minutes when we want to go for a ride!)

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Impressive!
The shake down ride seems to be worth the trip on it's own.
How do the Paul brakes cope with the extra weight?
Did you have disks on the previous tandem?

We only rode it with two front panniers up to now, there’ll be plenty more luggage on it when we get to Japan. But they’re really, really good.

It’s my first time with cable discs, my previous tandem ran Avid Single Digits and they were good, but the Paul Klampers are better. The front one bites a lot, you can really feel it, to the point I have to modulate or call the braking so my girlfriend is braced for it.

Rear one is mushy, but I suspect that’s to be expected with such a long cable — there is very little outer on the rear cable, and whatever’s there is compressionless, so I don’t know if it can be improved. The rim brake on my previous tandem was no better.

Congratulations on your new bike, it’s lovely!
In regards to the rear braking, judging by the wear on the rotor I’d say you need to adjust the caliper.

So cool!

You didn't consider an additional rear brake for long descents?

As above, looks like the pads are in contact with 2/3 or 3/4 of the braking surface of the rotor, not sure how you can get that down since you’re not using washers or spacers under it but that would help braking a bit.

More pics of it broken down! Amazing bike, I’m blessed to own a Bob Jackson tandem, but my partner flies into a fearful rage whenever I coax her out onto it. No touring for me (with her).

Cable discs should be OK...

Could still cook the pads though? Nice glaze... drum brake ftw.

Yeah, would need a bit of management when descending that Alpine Col in June :)

Kinda surprised they didn't put a V brake on the rear too but I guess the consensus is that two large discs with a cable system is fine.

Beautiful.

I cooked discs solo with light luggage down a technical descent, so it's for sure possible 2 up.

Hydraulics tho?

What difference does that make to the pads?